The Beaverhead County High School track teams stormed into Corvallis last weekend for the Southwestern Class A meet and left town with a first place finish on the boys side and a second for the girls.

The Dillon teams didn’t let the rain that fell throughout the entire day on Friday slow them down. Instead they stayed constant to what has been working on all year and saw some of their best performances of the season.

The top six kids in each event make the podium, earn a medal and gain points for their teams, but only the top five would move on to the state meet in Laurel this weekend.

In the 100 meter dash, Dillon had five of the ten runners in the final after the prelims on Friday. Dillon’s Austin Carver went on to defend his conference title and was followed closely by teammate Cooper Lamey.

“I am feeling really good coming into the weekend,” said defending state champ Carver. “I’m confident and I’ve been to Laurel before and have had some much needed experience over the years at the state meet. Laurel’s facility is amazing and I’m excited to run on their track.”

In the 200, Carver again led the pack, followed by fellow Beaver Mick Paffhausen this time.

Paffhausen had a great weekend, winning the 300 hurdles, the 110 hurdles, the 400 relay, with Carver, Holden Garrison and Lamey, and taking third in the 1600 relay, with Nate Trang, Justin Ferris, and Lamey.

Garrison showed his athleticism as he won the pole vault and tied for second in the high jump.

Lamey took second in the long jump after he got beat by just 1/4 of an inch on the final jump by Abe Westfalls, of Hamilton.

Dillon junior John Luke Koslosky also made state in both the hurdle events and Eathyn Peterson was able to triple jump his way to second place, while Zack Girard placed in both the high and the triple.

Senior Kyle Moore, who has quietly been going about his business all year, won the shot put and will be looking for his best throw of his career this weekend.

Also placing and moving on to the state meet were Trae Williams in the javelin and Austin Hoerning in both the shot and the discus. Distance man Sage Schoonen got a chance to show his competitiveness as he made his way through the pack to place and move on in both the 1600 and the 3200.

The 13 Dillon girls that travelled to Corvallis showed their grit by taking second behind the 50-strong Corvallis girls team.

Holly Andersen took second to the fastest girl in the state, grabbing silver in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, and in the 200 and the 400 relay, with Jordan Peterson, Emilee Starkel and Cierra Lamey.

Lamey took second in the 400, fifth in the 200 and second in the 1600 relay, with Andersen, Starkel, and Petersen.

Caleigh Buckmaster has been finding her stride as the season has moved on and she placed fifth in the 800 to punch her ticket to state.

In the Pole Vault Jordan Peterson took second to advance, while Josee Pendleton will be going to state in two events after taking second in the shot put and third in the discus.

Senior Allie McGrath placed fifth in the javelin, as did Taryn Mercer in the shot put to move on to state.

In all, Dillon will be represented at the Class A and C state meet by 15 boys and eight girls this weekend.

The boys have their best shot ever to win the top team trophy. Their toughest competition will be Billings Central and the strong Whitefish team from up north.

“I feel our boys team has an awesome shot at getting some hardware, and seeing as my high school athletic career will be ending, I am going to try my best to get Dillon its first high school track championship,” added the senior Carver.

“When I was adding up the points between the potential placers last night, I came up with a really close finish between Whitefish and us,” said Dillon Head Coach Tammi Myers.

“Those first and second place wins are always huge, but this meet is going to be won by the points awarded for the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers. We just need to show up at our best and hope to have a little luck on our side.”

The team will leave Dillon Thursday morning and head over for a practice at the Laurel facility before things kick off Friday morning with the field events starting at 9 a.m. and running events at 10:30 a.m.